Football

Black Africa and African Stars played to a thrilling draw in front of a near capacity crowd at the Sam Nujoma Stadium on Saturday night.

Although there were no goals there was plenty of excitement as both sides played attacking soccer and had numerous chances to find the net.

BA keeper Arnold Subeb pulled off a great diving save from a Freedom Puriza cracker on 28m, tipping the ball over the bar.

Black Africa came close on 35m when a Denzil Haoseb freekick hit the upright and Muna Katupose scored from the rebound but he was ruled offside.

COSAFA has announced a venue change for the COSAFA Cup Zambia 2013 with the exciting addition of Kitwe to join Ndola and Lusaka for the tournament that runs from July 6-20.

Kabwe was initially scheduled to be the third venue for the prestigious regional competition, but logistical challenges in upgrading the stadium to the required standard for the competition have meant it has been withdrawn.

But that allows the city of Kitwe to be added to the schedule, joining Ndola as a venue in the north of the country.

Tigers beat Orlando Pirates 2-1 in an exciting Premier league match on Friday evening.

Panduleni Nekundi put Tigers ahead on 9m when he headed home a cross by Pineas Jacob but Gustav Isaak equalised with a great volley early in the second half.

Benson Shilongo however secured Tigers’ victory when he pounced onto a goalkeeping error by Helmut Maletsky on 63m to put the loose ball into the net.

The result saw Tigers and Pirates swopping places on the log with Tigers moving up to third on 35 points, while Pirates dropped down to fourth on 34 points.

The biggest soccer match of the year takes place on Saturday when Black Africa and African Stars lock horns at the Sam Nujoma Stadium.

Not only will the match in all likelihood determine the outcome of the 2012/13 Namibia Premier League title, but it will also lay down a marker in the struggle for Namibian soccer supremacy.

In recent years Black Africa and African Stars have emerged as the powerhouses of Namibian football, with Stars winning the title for two consecutive seasons from 2008 to 2010 and Black Africa winning twice in a row from 2010 to 2012.

Windhoek United and Blue Boys remain the pace setters in the Southern Stream First Division, having opened up a sizable gap on the rest of the field, following last weekend’s Round 17 matches.

Windhoek United beat Unam 1-0 on May 11 after a first half penalty by Thomas Nakale, while they were held to a 1-1 draw by Bee Bob Brothers in Mariental the next day.

They remain at the top of the log on 36 points from 17 matches - one point ahead of Blue Boys, who also collected four points over the weekend.

The countdown to the biggest soccer match of the year has begun with both Black Africa and African Stars in confident mood of winning Saturday’s derby.

At a press conference organised by Black Africa on Tuesday, African Stars coach Ali Akan and Black Africa assistant coach Eric Quest addressed the media, saying they were both confident of victory.

Quest said they had a lot of respect for African Stars but were determined to win Saturday’s match.

South Africa has confirmed that they will be participating in the COSAFA Cup Zambia 2013 and will be bringing a strong squad to boot.

Bafana Bafana coach Gordon Igesund wanted to be able to take the strongest possible team to the regional championship, viewing it as the prestigious competition it has become.

That led to talks between the South African Football Association (SAFA) and the Premier Soccer League (PSL) for the release of the best players in the local league for the July 6-20 competition.

African Stars will meet Mighty Gunners in the final of the 2013 Bidvest Namibia Cup after they won their semi-finals clashes against Rundu-based sides Rundu chiefs and United Stars at the Sam Nujoma Stadium on Saturday.

Action started off at 16h00 as Mighty Gunners took on United Stars and it was Gunners striker Harold Ochurub who scored in the first half to give his side a dream start and a 1-0 halftime lead.

Mighty Gunners striker Harold Ochurub has taken a clear lead in the NPL Top Goalscorer competition and seems a near certainty to finish as the top goalscorer of the 2012/13 season.

With only two rounds of matches remaining, Ochurub leads the goal scorers chart with 13 goals from 20 matches.

He is five goals clear of Ramblers striker Heinrich Kazerua and African Stars midfielder Bradley Wermann who share second place with 8 goals each.

Namibia remained unchanged at 125 in the world on the latest FIFA rankings that were released on Thursday.

The Brave Warriors have not played over the past month while their next match will be a friendly against Zambia in Windhoek, provisionally set for May 24.

Namibia is ranked eighth in the SADC region and 37th in Africa.

Zambia are the top ranked nation in SADC with a world ranking of 46 and are followed by South Africa (56 in the world) and Angola (93).

The rest of the top SADC nations are Zimbabwe (105), Mozambique (106), Malawi (109), Botswana (125) and Namibia (125).